


Telling Tales

by Memorycharm (tzy)



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: F/M, Yuletide, Yuletide 2004
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-25
Updated: 2004-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tzy/pseuds/Memorycharm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy has knowledge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Telling Tales

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2004 Yuletide.

"Then the boy puts his thing in you and wiggles around for a bit until the seeds come out, and the seeds make a baby." Janey Hibbert said, folding her arms across her chest. She knew all this because her older sister had got married and was expecting a blessed event in February.

"Ick!" Sarah said. "I'd never let anyone do that. It's disgusting." _Disgusting_ was her favorite word, and she liked to say it with a sniff as she turned up her nose.

"What thing?" Kathy said, fearfully. She was afraid of everything. Visions of long, sharp needles inserting seeds into mothers-to-be made her tremble.

"His willy. It gets all... pointy and then he can put it in your _you know_ Janey said, pointing downward. She didn't sound as sure as she had before. "And it hurts something awful. He likes it though. And you have to, because it's your duty when you get married, and otherwise you'd never have a baby."

"That's not true at all!" Lucy cringed as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Why hadn't she bit her tongue? 

"And how do you know?" Janey snapped. She didn't like anyone telling her she was wrong. 

Lucy frowned. She had to remember she wasn't a grown Queen here, but only a little girl. Caspian was king in Narnia now, and her dearest first Narnian friend was long dead. 

*

_"My home is... not suitable for a Queen of Narnia," Mr Tumnus said, pushing the door open and bending in a slight bow._

_"Lucy, Mr Tumnus. I have told thee often enough, my name is Lucy." It had taken the threat of a severe beard-pulling to get the faun to agree to use her given name in private. He didn't think it proper in public. "And thy home is perfectly suited to Lucy."_

_"Yes my- Lucy," Mr Tumnus said with another bow. "I shall put the tea on?" he asked, as if waiting for her permission._

_Lucy nodded and used the time Mr Tumnus was in the kitchen to look around the tidy sitting room. It felt so cozy and familiar. She sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs by the fire and tucked her feet under. Queen Susan was always reprimanding her for such unladylike behavior. Mr Tumnus wouldn't mind, though. He was her oldest friend._

_"Here we are," Mr Tumnus said, carrying a large tray filled with tea and cakes and biscuits and jam and bread and butter and loads more lovely things. They ate slowly, and conversed about court and other dry topics._

_"I cannot help but feel at home here," Lucy said after her second biscuit. "It seems so familiar. Perhaps because it is yours, dear friend."_

_"But you have been here before, m- Lucy. Surely you remember? When you came from far Spare Oom." Mr Tumnus looked bashful and his reddish skin blushed even redder._

_"Of course," Lucy said, though she didn't really remember clearly._

_"It was my home then, and I welcomed you in only to betray you!" Mr Tumnus cried out, as if it had only just happened._

_"Oh, don't Mr Tumnus," Lucy said, getting to her feet. "You didn't betray me; you saved me. Don't say such things." She walked over and sat down on the floor, at his feet. His eyes widened in shock. "Tell me a story, a happy one," she said, resting her cheek on his soft, furry legs._

_Mr Tumnus started in on a story, about a very young and foolish faun who wandered too far in the wintery woods one evening. His manner was stiff and uncomfortable at first, but soon relaxed to the point of his resting a hand on Lucy's hair. His story grew more elaborate and far-fetched, as the faun rescued a beautiful princess from the clutches of an evil ogre, and then set out to sail the high seas in search of adventure with the princess, who had fallen in love with the faun._

_"Oh, oh, oh," Mr Tumnus suddenly said, just as he was getting to the part where the faun and the princess discovered a mysterious island. "I've done it again, dear Lucy!" He took his hand away from Lucy's hair as if it burned._

_"Done what? Oh, please don't cry Mr Tumnus! What have you done?" Lucy said, sitting up and taking his hands._

_He tried to pull away with a wail. "I've betrayed you, sweet, innocent daughter of Eve! I've brought you here, to my home, with filthy, impure intentions. I- I- I am lower than the vilest wolf!"_

_Lucy did not know what to make of this outburst. She did not think Mr Tumnus would truly do anything like what he was saying. "No, Mr Tumnus. You must tell me what you've really done."_

_He stood and wrenched his hands from hers. "I've- I've- brought you here," he said, covering his eyes. "I've brought you here with the intention of telling you- I have become... possessed of a vile lust. I cannot look at you without the fires coursing through my veins, telling me to lure you into the forests and show you the old ways." With that, he bent his head to the mantel._

_Lucy's heart beat rapidly. What did he mean? She stood and went over to him. "By the Lion, Mr Tumnus, I do not believe you would cause me harm," she said, covering his hand with hers._

_"I have," he said hollowly. "I knew you could never return these feelings, and so...." he lifted one hand and let it drop._

_"And so you went and made a decision without consulting me," Lucy said quietly. She cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her._

_"My- Lucy," Mr Tumnus said, looking in her eyes with wonderment. "My Lucy?"_

_"Your Lucy," she said, tilting her head to press her lips gently to his._

*

"Yes, how do you know, Lucy?" Kathy said, her voice quavering. The eyes of every girl in the dormitory were on Lucy. 

"I- When you're in love, it's different, isn't it?" Lucy said with a tentative smile. "It's in all the stories."

Janey Hibbert scoffed. " _Stories_. I'd expect as much from a _child_." Never mind that Janey was only four months older than Lucy.

*

Many princes sought the hand of Queen Lucy the Valiant, but she spurned them all, finding joy in the company of her dearest friend and constant companion, Tumnus the faun.


End file.
